Getting back into Magic TCG after 12 years

Thank you to everyone who helped me make this video about coming back into Magic the Gathering after 12 years!
(BTW, I forgot to include the image in the video. Will was talking about a photo he made where he photoshopped Alan's head onto an arc-slogger with lasers coming out of his eyes going, "this is a win for the people!")
Allie: / alliebug321
Marcos: / marcosnegrete
Shane: / coolboybeebles
Everyone's picks:
Allie- Arcades, Exquisite Blood, Aminatou
Shane- Chromatic Lantern, Door to Nothingness
Will- Tephraderm, Arc Slogger
Alan- Ugin, Oath of Druids
Courtney- Sublime Epiphany, Lithoform Engine
Marcos- Illhard, Sphinx of the Second Sun
Jen- Sphinx Ambassador, Mirri

[@TheKartana]

The goal of a TCG is not to win, or to have fun, but to convince the players of other TCGs that yours is the one where people are having fun

[@webbowser8834]

On that note, may I introduce you to Legends of Runeterra? It's easily the most ftp friendly online card game I've ever played, any deck you want can be made after a week or two after starting fresh. Every creature has wallpaper worthy art with a ton of detail and expression, and there are a ton of voiced interactions between even common cards. If you do choose to spend actual money, nothing you buy into has a percentage on it. No paid lootboxes, no rng drops, none of that. When you spend x dollars you know exactly what you're getting in advance. Game also has some cool mechanics. You can bank up to three floated mana as "spell mana", which makes missing your early drops feel less bad. Champion cards help guide the deckbuilding process without dictating it by pushing you in certain directions with their level up conditions, which give them strong and often game ending abilities. Game is surprisingly well balanced too, with a large variety of viable decks at any given time, and even the draft chaff passes the vanilla test and makes some degree of sense. So yeah, game's good.

[@bryanmerel]

Digimon TCG knocks the door.

[@GeneralNickles]

magic may be the most famous(and maybe the biggest, but thats highly debatable), but only a couple of times have i known a yu-gi-oh player that switched to different game, and not returned to yu-gi-oh. and only one of those switched to magic. the other switched to pokemon. plenty have quit card games entirely, but the ones that keep playing almost always come back eventually. also, yu-gi-oh is the only major TCG with no pointless resource system telling you that you cant play the game for the first 4 turns. (seriously, why doesnt every game of magic just start with both players taking 4 lands out of there decks and putting them on the field just so they skip the "draw, land, pass" phase every game inevitably goes through?) it's the only TCG that lets you start playing as soon as you draw your hand. just saiyen.

[@Veristelle-]

@@GeneralNickles I agree everyone uses to go back, but the BlackSynchros, XYZ, and Pendulum stopped alot of that for people I know. We actually play the old ~2008 and 2011 championship games...so weird that we chose to.

[@lachlankelly9438]

@@GeneralNickles id like to let your friend who switched to magic from yugiho know... your not alone brotha 😂

[@The_Mr_Minty]

I think what hit me hard was "you can tap it, sac it, and point at a player and tell them to leave" i need to get that on a shirt

[@swugg5266]

Hehe same name

[@aes2621]

23:32 when I got into magic, still a young teen, I was with my parents at a local game store during an MTG night. I had fun and noticed all the older teens/adults were buying boxes or packs at the end of the night to open in store before leaving. I scrounged up the last of my saved up cash and bought 2 packs. I sat down at a table w my dad and opened to see a funky blue dragon. I was still hella new and I had no idea what a “planeswalker” was, my parents didn’t play they were just there for me, so I went up to the clerk and asked what does this card do/mean? Clerks face went white and then he shouted “THIS KID PULLED A UGIN!!!” Again, I had no idea what that meant or how rare he was until iirc 5-6 full grown adults ran over to me and started trying to beg me to trade my card for their’s. My dad pulled me out of the pit and we went home. My dad and I spent the rest of the night researching Ugin and turns out I pulled that exact Ugin from the graphic about a week after he launched. Luckiest pull I have ever had, I still have him in 2 protective sleeves :,)

[@ryanadams0922]

FINALLY PUFFIN FOREST IS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS!

[@jasperspearl2768]

YAAAAAS Queen

[@minicraft9972]

Thank god

[@Richard-cx9bb]

Bout time. I watched the whole Curse of Strad series for the 7th time last night

[@Servius-Gallicus]

Run Forest, run!

[@minicraft9972]

@@Servius-Gallicus it’s to late Travis get the spatula

[@storyspren]

Ugin in a dragon deck like: "Oh no no no, you misheard. I didn't say dragon hoard. I said dragon horde."

[@vincentbankert7649]

Dragon decks are a blast

[@varmituofm]

@@vincentbankert7649 My first favorite deck was a terrible 5 color dragon deck from Planar chaos. Me and 3 buddies all chipped in when we were nearly broke to get a box of Planar chaos. We split the unopened packs, and I ended up with all 5 dragons in my packs.

[@vincentbankert7649]

@@varmituofm wow now I use a dragon commander deck and yeah its insane

[@varmituofm]

@@vincentbankert7649 my deck was terrible. Not because of the dragons, but because I had no synergy for them. No ramp, no cheats. Barely had access to any color mana effects.

[@soulslayer9852]

Not gonna lie when I say ugin that of 2 things nicol bolas on tarkir and ugin in colorless eldrazi there was alot of wastes that day

[@Vaprous]

"Puffin has a girlfriend" Neat.

[@ethancooper1056]

I'm getting back into magic! Me, who has been continuously playing MTG since high school: *OH NO*

[@fernandoi8958]

My thoughts after watching this... I will never play it again, and its not just because of the increasing amount of bullshit they make every season...

[@marekvincibr5884]

OH YES

[@brendaneichler5244]

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

[@Name-sg9ii]

Yes

[@bruhboss3141]

Me, who is an elite brawl player, watching him say that he got wrecked by 300 6/6s with flying and trample: Oh look I'm in a puffin forest video

[@butyoucancallmezyn]

As soon as Allie said exquisite blood, I felt a chill in my spine. Flashbacks to my wife's OP black and white deck.

[@robertharris6092]

Was it vampire knights?

[@handbanana1674]

What was the commander?

[@sehvehn7955]

I ALSO FLASHED BACK TO MY extortion black and white deck.

[@quantumcrow]

@@robertharris6092 that deck is auto doom for the opposing team

[@robertharris6092]

@@quantumcrow yup. The ones that make it so the person you're attacking loses 1hp for every vampire that attacks is insane. And you have 4 of them. Then you get the spell from the video so you actualy gain that health. Then you have that planeswalker vampire knight guy that can summon vampire knights tokens. And theres the knights exemplar that makes all other knights invincible to combat damage while giving them all +1/+1 each. You have multiple solutions to win. Edit to elaborate. You also have ax legendary vampire knoght that you can tap and pay 7 life to destroy any no land perminant you want. And sorin, grim nemesis is the planeswalker.

[@J_Bollich]

Him you can play a game of magic in 5 - 10 minutes Me what kind of dark magic is this

[@maggiedean5691]

Izzet blitz. Boros burn. Storm.

[@aureile01]

Surely he meant per turn !

[@maggiedean5691]

@@aureile01 are you playing control or midrange matches? I think aggro matches could.

[@Lsano32]

The games I play with my friends are like 3 hours long we’ll doesn’t help I play a group hug deck

[@noxus158]

That's what I am saying and he says that it's not balanced sounds like to me he's bad

[@devdanferguson7616]

"Creative Design Decisions" *stares at mirrodin intensely*

[@hirosmirnov8287]

I love how you don’t specify which mirrodin block you’re talking about, because you don’t have to, since both were cataclysmic in an equal value.

[@devdanferguson7616]

@@hirosmirnov8287 and if they are leading up a mirrodin pure, its gonna be a third one lol.

[@bendakstarkiller603]

What's wrong with ravager affinity? Skullclamp is fair according to R&D. Infect is fine. Despite how monstrously overpowered both blocks were, Mirrodin have a special place in my heart.

[@eightbitblitz5868]

@@bendakstarkiller603 cough cough phyrexian mana cough cough In all seriousness I love the mirrorin blocks but they have design issues

[@qwertyman1511]

* Destroying blocking creatures does not remove them as blockers.

[@squidpope9344]

Its weird that, after documenting your time spent as "That Guy" at the D&D table, you wouldn't immediately build a Control/Mill Deck

[@kereminde]

Pfft, no... Turbo Stasis. Full-on "no fun allowed".

[@VladiMatt]

Dimir is literally why I stopped playing MTC lmao

[@kereminde]

@@VladiMatt Pfft, the Dimir are no threat to anyone. You shouldn't worry. Really. By the way, you should probably keep an eye over your shoulder. The new boys need the practice remaining unseen.

[@jacobpoissant6617]

@@kereminde stacks? Build a sen triplets stacks deck, now try to play and have some fun

[@ChibiKami]

Weatherlight trilogy blue decks 4 new cards identical to Counterspell for a total of 20 functional Counterspells new monsters that can be tapped to Counterspell an entire deck functionally made of Counterspell

[@ubershrimp69]

“Started cheap..... started” so true

[@danhelsting6308]

Some say home is where your hang your hat. Some say home is where heart is. Braids, Cabal Minoin says: "Home is where you can find a decent graveyard and strangers can disappear without awkward questions." words to live by.

[@lolimmune]

Aw yes Braids, shes one of my favorite cards of all time. Just 4 mana, and no one is happy. Shes perfect

[@whaleofdarkness]

@@lolimmune Fun is a zero sum game with Braids. Their despair is your fun.

[@elliotchapman7261]

“I don’t like shuffling a hundred card deck” Trust me puffin, no one does

[@Foxpawed]

*slowly and awkwardly raises hand* I uh... I kind of do. At least with single sleeved dragon shields, they're very satisfying to shuffle.

[@cyberwolfy37]

I can shuffle a 100 card deck as long as it's not sleeved, like I'm talking poker table dealer shuffle minus bridge shuffle because I don't like bending cards. otherwise I stack shuffle, which I feel like the best kind of shuffle, really spread out your lands so that you won't get mana flood/drought.

[@XGCPeacecraft]

I have 5 triple sleeves for commander....

[@Bladezeromus]

A double sleeved commander deck is a dream to shuffle.

[@keganvanzylldejong5365]

@@Bladezeromus If your hands are big enough!!! Otherwise its a pain

[@nickmorgan3042]

“I did the math, and if I keep putting it in every deck, eventually, one day, I’ll get it” lmao

[@saintmartin188]

Ben: "If I play this, my friends will murder me." Me: "Nobody tell him about Winter Orb. "

[@cteal2018]

Armageddon enters the chat

[@patrickmcathey7081]

@@cteal2018 Upheavel: Hi guys whats up?

[@Axiluvia]

Storm Cauldron: *finger guns*

[@saintmartin188]

Here comes the next challenger: Humility!!

[@johnbuscher]

@@cteal2018 Impending Disaster followed by an Epicenter: Allow myself to introduce myself. Although the nastiest one I’ve seen would be War’s Toll, Settle the Wreckage and then blowing up all lands to really hurt them. Good times.

[@Caillte_Cruleic]

My father called it a “money pit”... I agree.

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

People warned me drugs would be cheaper. I laughed because I stuck to a budget REAL HARD the first 2 years, boy did things spiral out of control once I got some more disposable income.

[@H.P.Clodcraft]

My dad called it a money pit too. Recently, I sold my cards and now I'm swimming in a money pit.

[@adamplentl5588]

Anything that costs money is a money pit that's how money works. Car = money pit. House = money pit. Food = money pit. Water = money pit. This is not a valid criticism.

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

@@adamplentl5588 Pit full of money? Money pit.

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

@@TheMightyBattleSquid I've kept all of my decks under $20 asides if you don't include basic lands- many under $10 even 6 years and 9 modern decks later. Stay out of Commander / Legacy while playing with Gates+Basic lands and it's not too hard to make fun never-created-before decks for what you found under you sofa. That being said some have spiked a bit on no part of my own since my $3 Cyclonic Rift is now going for $40; making all my otherwise budget-conscious decks look flashy.

[@dylanknight1237]

The friends' lists were like... "format staple, format staple, famous card, famous card, TEPHRADERM, ARC-SLOGGER, standard card, standard card."

[@bezretmet]

I mean that is pretty varied wouldn't you say?

[@chad3166]

I believe that "friend" who had Tephraderm is Ben's brother so y'know makes sense

[@sebastianacacia7621]

"You pass around Karona, until everyone has it"... that card didn't age well

[@FretboardToAsh]

Came here looking for this.

[@JabAtLife]

Was about to say when I heard 😂

[@ericb3157]

reminds me of a strange old game, "robot rascals": it's a video game AND a card game: your robots run around the game area trying to find buried items, and you try find the items that match the cards in your hands. there are also cards that allow you to switch cards with other players, and cards that force EVERYONE to "give one card to the player on your right"... AND there's a card called "Killer Kard" that has NO matching item, which means you CANNOT WIN if it's in your hand! oh, i forgot to mention: the are also good items, that give you bonuses like extra energy that lets you do more searching per round, and BAD items, that give penalties, like LESS energy, UNLESS you also have the matching good item, then they cancel out.

[@baconknightproductions8297]

It's Karona time

[@QuixoteBadger]

Frickin.... (sigh) nice.

[@Enigmaessence]

The fact that your playgroups favorite cards were predominately 6-10 drops means you have a good playgroup.

[@Bartleby1892]

"By the time you can use Door to Nothingness it's too late in the game for anyone to do anything about it." The logic is strong on this one.

[@ashers9695]

Can’t keep me from tryin 🤌🤌🤌

[@JOfJaZ]

Me who plays Ramos Dragon Engine: “too late for what?”

[@mrexcadrill8474]

Me: doesn’t play Magic. Puffin: here’s my story of getting back into this game and my friends talk bout the game. Me: I’ll take your entire stock

[@sneakysquirrel1990]

Trust me its gonna cost alot of money

[@jackpabich763]

That will cost you... greatly

[@noahwolff5455]

It doesn't cost much if you play the pauper format. And ther is pauper commander

[@oaf5216]

WELCOME TO THE FOLD! May your foils never pringle!

[@StateBlaze1989]

Me, who has never played MTG: You say some funny words, animated magic man.

[@queenWillowwww3893]

Same, literally have no idea what anyone’s saying, but I’m here nonetheless😂✨

[@kylelee1911]

@@queenWillowwww3893 if you guys think thats bad keep in mind every single expansion they invent a whole new word that does weird stuff.... so theres tons

[@superequinox4185]

The arc slogger is the magic card equivalent of indiana jones pulling a gun on that sword guy in the first movie

[@eavyeavy2864]

Other way around

[@schwarzerritter5724]

An accurate analogy in the sense you are boned if you run out of ammo.

[@YarnLalms711]

“There are cards that prevent drawing cards. There are cards that prevent your opponent from playing cards. There are cards the prevent your opponent from taking turns.” *Laughs in banned Yatalocke*

[@JoeJoe-vu5mz]

And then red eyes dark dragoon happened

[@hunterlee4412]

I was waiting for him to just say there are cards that just stop you from playing magic, which is basically what they all do

[@Klaital1]

Let me tell you about my most favourite card of all time back from the early days of Magic, it's called Stasis, and, in theory, it prevents either player from playing the game, though when your playing a stasis deck, you have ways to get around it so it ends up just your opponent not being able to play the game. Turbo Stasis was my all time favourite deck.

[@FluffyTurbo]

Magic also has a 1 sided skill drain that makes all your creatures 1/1s

[@camdenthompson4307]

People say Magic is Better than Yu-Gi-Oh, this is an example why personally i disagree

[@TrueTgirl]

God I wanna be in this playgroup. Healthy number of players, and lots of said players seem to be playing commander as it was originally intended: JANKY and SPLASHY.

[@joethomas8464]

I want to be in one of these groups. I had one like 6 player game. So much jank, one of which was basically a colorless immortality deck. I was playing a tuned dragon precon. And the person next to me had some sort of "controll exchanging, remove things from the battlefield and have them reenter" deck that I got to do some diplomacy with. I ended up winning. They are so long and chaotic, and I absolutely love it.

[@rabbithole8858]

I need a playgroup that isn't obsessed with Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe. Being original sounds like losing in edh sometimes.

[@Frostgiantbutsmall]

Jank is dank.

[@gabrielkay6866]

Courtney: Ok so i just started playing.... Also Courtney: Sublime Epiphany. Yeah, you're destined for greatness :)

[@ryanstewart5727]

I'm not really a blue player but even I have to admit that casting Sublime Epiphany and getting to choose all five modes feels REAL good.

[@DatBrasss]

As a super-enfranchised player, it's really nice to see a casual perspective on the game. Reminds me of when I got into Magic.

[@holdingpriority163]

Honestly same it makes me want to make a few decks more light hearted to capture that feeling when I first started and just played with what I opened and thought was cool but I wouldn’t even be able to hold my own in my play group if I did that :,(

[@johnbuscher]

@@holdingpriority163 I think having one “for funsies” deck can be totally worth it. My Torbran deck was supposed to be like that, except I ended up killing everyone with a thousand cuts and stopping the Nekusar player from killing us immediately, but also burned out Rats. I also want to make Pirates and play the lethargic “I do what I want and take what I want” pirates theme. If I have to get serious, I have Magda and can tutor for almost any answer and smash face. I also have Shu Yun but he’s a little inconsistent.

[@hirosmirnov8287]

ONE OF US ONCE AGAIN ONE OF US TELL A FRIEND

[@edwardoliver7610]

One of us!

[@SnaxTheSnaxolotl]

One of us!

[@P0T80S]

ONE OF US!

[@dseray9494]

I play yu-gi-oh! Which is a creative way of asking you all to kill me

[@Shark-Flynn]

All will be one

[@DurhamCurse]

As someone who has been playing magic for 15 years (good lord, I feel old now), it is so refreshing to hear someone call out old school cards, especially ones I love. Hell yeah Tephraderm!!

[@davidglendinning9871]

26 years for me little pup. If you're old.....that....makes ...me.............WOOOOAAAAHHH!!!

[@Shardfenix]

"Box of Shame" Sees Spikeshot Goblin 0_O My dude, Spikeshot Goblin is one of the best commons ever printed.

[@ab14967]

He may have filled his box of shame from the perspective of his current meta/group and what they play. No one played anything like it, so, in the box of shame it goes. But yeah, a literal nuke if you buff it is a horrifying wincon.

[@Shardfenix]

@Colin Deal Clearly you haven't been playing long.

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

@@Shardfenix While I can see its potential, do you mind explaining what makes it so powerful? I mean, I know it probably can be buffed like crazy then just one shot an opponent, but is there a specific combo setup that works really well with it?

[@Shardfenix]

@@Eric_The_Cleric It's not for one shotting opponents. With almost no investment or risk, you can make it say "R,T: Destroy target creature". There are tons of low-cost equipment that love being on this guy.

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

@@Shardfenix that makes sense.

[@alex-uw4mm]

i feel horrible for starting laughing at the korona part" you give korona to another player.."

[@QwaC]

The magic the gathering experience. Get interested, see how expensive the standard is, and then switch to EDH

[@thrash208]

FR though when I started as soon as I hit the first rotation and was told I can't play with my deck I started playing commander.

[@Yakkosprite]

And then get comboed in 2 turns

[@rabbithole8858]

EDH has turned into standard. The game is for people with money. Unless you don't care about ever winning. And I'm not saying I have only cheap decks... Tymna and Ravos have barely lost any games and that deck is teetering over $550. Sad truth is this is no longer the game it was. It's all about money and investment rather than having fun.

[@QwaC]

@@rabbithole8858 true, but at least with EDH you don't have to worry about rotation and can use the deck forever

[@thrash208]

@@rabbithole8858 the best deck I ever made was less than $100😐 it's still valued at about $150 which is sort cheap when compared to standard

[@JohnR8589]

Today I learned that Puffin's friends like anarchy and chaos in their magic

[@johanandersson8252]

And its totally fine.

[@carlwilliams1340]

One time in a game of EDH, I successfully talked my way into the last 2 by promising an opponent to flip a coin when deciding the target for Door to Nothingness. I lost the flip and killed myself. It was hilarious.

[@internetuser8922]

The politics & gambits are the best part of this format. Players getting betrayed or unexpectedly saved, etc. can be super fun & interesting.

[@Frostgiantbutsmall]

This is the way

[@cactyystotementertainmentl9247]

Ugin, the spirit dragon will always have a special place in my heart. I was on my first date with who is now my husband, and I pulled a foil Ugin from a dragons booster pack. It was amazing!

[@jan-timolobner]

That is both super nerdy and super adorable, I wish you two the best of luck

[@jeffthibodeaux6137]

Probably the most wholesome story I've ever heard that had to do with ugin.

[@EnderofGames]

The shuffle your 100 card deck: cut it into two decks of ~50, shuffle those, then shuffle them together once. Then repeat. It becomes shuffled well, but you don't have to deal with the 100 cards in hand as much.

[@mirthfulArtist]

*"Magic was definitely the cheapest hobby at the time."*

[@matthewwhiting255]

Fucking when lmao

[@durry23]

@@matthewwhiting255 not even in 1993, when I was playing it.

[@leviangel97]

So you can play pretty cheaply if you wanna... but it gets addictive

[@gh1311]

Laughs in mono white angel deck

[@JoelFeila]

what are his other hobbies, crack, million dollar poker games, and warhammer

[@thewitchsfamiliar]

As a regular Magic player, the fact Puffin used an easy-to-beat-up box for some of his cards, makes me want to cry

[@devdanferguson7616]

Perfect time to return, DND crossover set coming out later this year.

[@mcbuckets2399]

Plus he missed the PR disaster known as secret lair x the walking dead

[@drwolt]

Wut wut wut

[@mcbuckets2399]

@@drwolt Magic made a set of like 5 cards with Walking Dead characters. Oh yeah, they're legal in Commander too...and they could only be bought for a week...and they weren't readily available in all countries. Yeah, 99% of magic players hate these descisions.

[@drwolt]

@@mcbuckets2399 no no no the d&d thingy

[@mj1mj3]

@@mcbuckets2399 people really overreacted about that

[@flbthptheintroverted5913]

“And then I learned about mana burn not being a thing anymore” Me: laughs in Yurlok, the scorch thrash

[@hugofontes5708]

any mana is mana burn, if you tap hard enough

[@blindey]

Funny that Yurlok was in the clip at the end too.

[@briangoubeaux5360]

It's funny that the Karona card gave Ben a chance to make a Coronavirus joke.

[@mj1mj3]

Just hearing them talking about their favorite cards was really fun

[@matthewturner5178]

RIP missingnovice. He forgot that player removal is the best counterspell

[@lovelife7612]

I love how he just lets his friends have the floor. Im smiling like a mad man from all this nerd talk.

[@dismurrart6648]

The magic isn't a game that I have ever gotten into it's just not my thing but I just love how happy and joyous all of these people sound

[@Kyiros]

WAIT, All play sounds cool AF! I've never heard of the format, I need to try this out! Thanks for spreading the good word!

[@metaldracolich2485]

Nowadays, it's more commonly refered to as Wizard's Tower.

[@michaelturner2806]

I've not heard of it either, and I've been on the lookout for alternate ways to play. It sounds a lot like Wizard's Tower, except you're guaranteed to hit land drops every turn.

[@andrewdsadfsdafvxcvfsafznw2]

23:18 "One that I wish I had 20 copies of that I can put into all my decks, that being *Ugin the Spirit Dragon* " Literally everyone: *Vietnam flashbacks*

[@R0g0nd]

The door to nothingness reminds me of a time I was playing a 10 person commander game. A blue player at the table who was playing mono blue group love used the card "Willbender" to morph up and redirect door to nothingness back to its owner. Which redirecting card abilities is pretty rare as is. Was incredibly funny. I miss the good old days of MTG.

[@salvosam940]

Hell yeah, love a great turnaround lol There are some new sources of the effect kicking around tho, the spicey plays live on.

[@hllyenaylleth9576]

what happened to mtg?

[@aconcretemoth9382]

Y'Know Puffin, I quite like this format of soliciting stories from other people.

[@noughtic8204]

Courtney said “I like to have money’s and control the board” and that isn’t a preface for Spell Swindle, smh

[@urieldaluz250]

As someone who learned the game at age 8 and has played semi consistently ever since, I am excited just from the title

[@matthewlaxon828]

Same but 12

[@TheKensta88]

Age 10 for me.

[@reneklaczak9566]

Atan: Ugin was my first planeswalker i ever pulled out of a booster. Me: That is great pull.

[@RiseInAfterlife]

Small tip: If you're playing MtG and someone brings out something called "Oko, Thief of Crowns" Punch them in the face. Hard.

[@magemanne7723]

Simic did nothing wrong, Uro and Oko are just friendly dudes who like mana and elks

[@nightclubkrow]

we dont talk about that card

[@MeldrickCz]

too soon

[@garrukwildspeaker2230]

Only in 1v1. Multiplayer he's only okay.

[@RiseInAfterlife]

@@garrukwildspeaker2230 As any PW is. After all they are nerfed to 1/4th of playability in EDH.

[@worththeshiner4541]

Door to nothingness: "Sorry bro, you gotta go"

[@danielhanson2417]

“I like the singleton format it adds mystery” me playing rats 👀

[@ENCHANTMEN_]

I wanna make a deck that is 1 rat commander, 59 rat colonies, and 40 lands

[@danielhanson2417]

@@ENCHANTMEN_ marrow gnawer is the only good rat commander

[@DiminutiveJerry]

What about piper of the swarm

[@LordMajicus]

I love that Ben is having to come to terms with stuff that a lot of entrenched players have been trying to get a handle on for years now 😂

[@bighairycomputers]

Have you ever watched three people get Doored by the same Door in a single game? Good times.

[@dudemcfurgusson7179]

I've seen a guy cast armageddon six times in a game to stop a door from dooring. It was me. I was the guy.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

Have you ever watched a player dooring himself because of Willbender?

[@kylerosa4369]

@@schwarzerritter5724 That... is... HYSTARICAL!!! HAH!!! I'll have to use that if I come across a Door happy player. Got a Sen Triplets deck I'd love to introduce them to.

[@krvys7226]

with radiant performer, you can now target yourself, then cast it to copy the door ability, and kill 3 people at once

[@snakeorbreak6258]

"And then I promptly got knocked out in the fourth turn." That's just how ya EDH. Win turn 4 or out the door.

[@NerdGuy1988]

My play group tries to stay lower power.

[@snakeorbreak6258]

@@NerdGuy1988 yeah, that's good, just mentioning the consistent t4 wins of higher power edh

[@Lsano32]

@@snakeorbreak6258 my group we play so weird decks but I mean it’s fun but dam if I play my group hug deck it will take 3 hrs plus to play

[@snakeorbreak6258]

@@Lsano32 i thought group hug decks were supposed to speed up the game not slow it down

[@Lsano32]

@@snakeorbreak6258 mine is more of a troll group hug

[@BassBaseAce]

Courtney's muffled "ahh counterspell" legit made me giggle

[@guibin]

I played MTG in high school and stopped around entering college. I tried getting back into by going with my friends to a draft tournament at our local game store. They didn't tell me about planeswalkers and I passed up a planeswalker in the pack I opened because I didn't know what they were. I facepalmed so hard afterwards....

[@guibin]

@@kaisergunter983 I don’t remember. It’s been too long. I want to say Lilliana but I don’t know if it really is or if it’s because she’s my favorite.

[@guibin]

@@kaisergunter983 it was like 10 years ago.

[@guibin]

@@kaisergunter983 :(

[@guibin]

@@kaisergunter983 over the summer, I think

[@guibin]

@@kaisergunter983 nah, too long ago.

[@NightOfCrystals]

I too, took a 12-year hiatus from Magic (2005-2017) and got back into it four years ago. Things really changed, especially price and formats.

[@0MidnighttheDragon0]

"you give another player karona. then they pass it to someone else. and you just keep passing it around until everyone has it" ...if we couldnt see how that was spelled...oof XD

[@reubenbailey7491]

That's exactly what I was thinking

[@0MidnighttheDragon0]

@@reubenbailey7491 Glad to know im not the only one

[@AdamKaiser1]

Seeing Shane loving Door to Nothingness make the Panda smile

[@Reepicheep-1]

"And now you know how to play MTG, you're welcome!"

[@orelyosif5852]

Magic: The Gathering is actually terrifying

[@magustrigger9195]

To your wallet....

[@KevinOMalleyisonlysmallreally]

Nah, the game is amazing, it's wizard's current policy and elements of the community that are terrifying

[@Deris76]

@@magustrigger9195 As a player since 2013, can relate. MTG is a wallet gobbling machine

[@magustrigger9195]

@@Deris76 i stoped playing in like 00 or 01 and i can only dream i knew where my old cards are to sell......so many dual lands

[@TheKensta88]

@@magustrigger9195 Dude original duel lands are all so expensive li 1000$ minimum.

[@zexa252]

9:14 Korona The False god That one didnt age quite so well

[@honscha]

Recently wizards did some especial cards with Godzilla monsters and art. One of those was "Spacegodzilla, Death Corona"... spelled exactly like that. They even changed the name on later printings but some had already got out

[@Sparky2618]

@@honscha There is also a card called Gloom pangolin in Ikora... It has the creature type Nightmare Pangolin

[@ForeverLaxx]

@@honscha Nevermind the fact that "corona" means crown and is used to describe a ton of viruses. No sir, gotta protect the fee-fees because of this one *specific* corona!

[@honscha]

@@ForeverLaxx I mean, the set released in the start of this specific corona *pandemic* and was called "death corona" when the pandemic promised to kill hundreds of thousands of people (and it did). It was of EXTREME bad luck from WoTC cause theses stuff are planned years ahead but it would be of poor taste to not acknowledge it and change if possible

[@ForeverLaxx]

@@honscha What's "poor taste" is catering to a bunch of whiners with extremely limited vocabulary and no knowledge of the source material. I'm not even going to address your "hundreds of thousands" inflation, though. Then again, I'm not responding after this so...

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

That Torment of Hailfire nope right there at the end deserves more than a like. Congrats on getting back into Magic! Hope you like the hellhole it can become. Definitely love Commander myself. I only got into Magic during the time of Return to Ravnica in 2012, and the Sanguine Bond//Exquisite Blood combo was legal in standard at the time. Then we got Fetchlands a few months later. It was utterly amazing. I just really got into Commander recently though and built myself a Ghen, Arcanum Weaver deck that I have been having fun with. Also, from how Courtney started off her commentary speaking about how she likes value cards (or as she calls them cards that give her the moneys) then shows two modal cards, yeah. She definitely knows exactly what she is doing. Hope you guys continue enjoying the game just as much as I do!

[@istarilight]

An Ayara commander deck ? Ben, I see you're a man of culture as well ! Welcome back to the game !

[@ODDnanref]

I am going to say "Oloro, the Ageless Ascetic". It get so much life gain that people ask you: "how are you still at 40?" Sometimes makes you a target. The other one, Marath. I like how he synergizes with those other +1/+1 elementals.

[@kevinsaltz7849]

Oloro was my first commander and last people really get butthurt when you cast necropotence apparently

[@ulexite]

i had the pleasure of introducing a small group of friends to MTG and getting them hooked creating a playing circle for us *evil laugh* its great to see how they've taken to deck building meaning I've had to step my game up, we've been discussing trying a Commander game an after this vid will have to look more into it. Glad your back Puffin! Much love from the Golgari Swarm (Black/Green)

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

"An eye for taste" Ah yes, you have a feet for good shoes

[@snepsi4755]

this one video made me get excited enough to take all of my magic cards over the years, and attempt to create my own commander deck

[@dzzplayz9276]

I played with a friend a while back and he kept telling me how good a card called “Infinite Reflection” was. The card made any and all creatures become copies of 1 creature. I never got it until that day he played Ugin Spirit Dragon and the Infinite Reflection, so he had 6 Ugins at once

[@Hajilex]

So this is where you've for the past months Definitely worth the wait

[@dustinb4286]

Dude, Puffin comes back to MTG after 12 years - Puffin comes back to youtube after 12 years - where have you been dude?

[@ryuukichi2531]

"I'm gonna burn you for 2 damage" AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH THIS HURTS SO MUCH LMAO

[@LittleHillsTabletop]

Yay! Another person who remembers Mana Burn!

[@sneakysquirrel1990]

Interrupts, mana source, damage of the stack need I go on. Also I've only been playing since 2013 lol

[@jimbeam7636]

First time I played my buddy lemme kill myself to teach me that 🥴

[@seangoldman6833]

Fiery Gambit technically targets a creature. Zada Hedron Grinder makes a copy of Fiery Gambit for each creature you control. You'll get those three flips eventually!

[@PhazonOmega]

Add Quark's Thumb! YEEESSS!!!

[@mememaster5748]

Yo I just built the Zada and this is the most rad thing I've heard

[@HaZineIncorporated]

8:30 Puffin: What the hell are these overpowered decks Me: Laughs in YuGiOh

[@yosoyyod2001]

yu gi oh is no where near to magic in terms of power level inside game.

[@herpderpinson2118]

@@yosoyyod2001 One can kind of understand a magic game when told a handful of terms. I look at an individual yugioh card and I feel like I'm reading a legal document.

[@yosoyyod2001]

@@herpderpinson2118 yeah, yu gi oh cards can't even explain themselves properly but Thats not a power in game thing.

[@planetdestroyer1111]

@@yosoyyod2001 I will say, during certain Yu-Gi-Oh Seasons, especially when Pendulums came out, the entire goal was to guarantee beating your opponent in a single turn. Due to how decks are built in Yu-Gi-Oh compared to Magic, the lack of lands to set a slow build-up leads to me personally thinking there's a lot more power in game. In my deck, which was really bad compared to the more competitive decks, I could get two dark magicians and destroy the enemies' monsters on my first turn if I went second, and then take out half of their hitpoints using them, consistently. And as stated, that was a weak deck just because I liked playing with magician mechanics. So I'd definitely say that Yu-Gi-Oh definitely has more overpowered decks within it, that set apart those who have the money for good decks and those who don't.

[@HaZineIncorporated]

@@yosoyyod2001 Depends on how you define "power level". As of writing YuGiOh decks are more obnoxious to play against, every deck in the meta can rip out all 5 cards from your hand turn 1 and your drawn card in your stand by phase. To the point Konami has to make actual Mary Sue cards that literally say: "Negate every monster effect your opponent has on board for the rest of the turn; this card can't be responded to by monster effects."

[@sqoody7invegas625]

I can never get enough of these videos, hell just talk about you walking your dog or going to the store to get milk and then animate it 😀

[@notreallyginger5831]

Puffin nerding out over magic the gathering: Me whos never played and never seen anyone else play: *nodding and just enjoying the animation* My Mum: are you enjoying your video? Me: YES OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING HEHHH

[@Habizbah]

Excellent video! As a long time magic player who took multiple prolonged breaks with harsh learning curves, this spoke to me. Also the birds chirping as he's talking about Oath of Druids!

[@TheKingsPride]

Wait, is this brother you’re mentioning the same brother who referred to D&D as “the sadness”? He played magic the gathering and felt confident enough to make fun of D&D? That’s hilarious.

[@devdanferguson7616]

Also the one who made Michelle, THAT gnome monk.

[@ErokLobotomist]

My MTG play group used to pick on the play group of D&D kids in highschool. Nerd wars at their finest lol Not sure why we all hated each other so much.

[@esoopthederp7672]

To be fair I think that was in the era of 4e which even puffin admitted caused him an extistenical crisis

[@xsoultillerx]

as someone who used to play DnD i think "the sadness" is a perfectly accurate way to describe the game. i ended up enjoying shadowrun & VTM alot more.

[@Lamonous]

Welcome back to mtg puffin!

[@shadexeon]

the fact someone played Korona too is awesome

[@skillganon606]

I use her as the commander of my sliver deck, mostly so people don't know I'm playing slivers right away.

[@Naemor92]

Premise: I was a MTG player during the Mirrodin-Kamgawa-Ravnica cycles in high school, so I stopped playing Magic around 2006-07 (14-15 years ago). That said, that’s my emotional roller-coaster during the video: - Before clicking the video: uhhhh a video of Ben talking about Magic, hooray ( ்ꈊ ்) - During the first five minutes: OW, RIGHT IN THE FEELINGS :’-) - 5:01 -> talks about Planeswalkers: wait a minute, PLANESwhat? - 5:05 -> talks about mana burn: WAIT, WHAT?!? HOW IS IT BETTER??? - 5:14 -> talks about Commander format: uhu, neat… I guess? - 5:30 -> talks about having a 100-card deck with only one card per type: *THAT’S IT I’M DONE!!!* - from 6:14 to 7:50 -> *YOU BETRAYED ME BEN! YOU JOINED THE DARK SIDE!!!* (repeated in loop) - from 7:51 onwards: begrudgingly continuing to watch the video, like a 350-year-old Dwarf looking at past grudges. Bonus: love the Atogatog, second best card I have ever seen. First place, however, still goes to Questing Phelddagrif

[@Sorain1]

Removal of mana burn borked the balance of several cards. Planeswalker cards are 'eah' IMHO. But the balance went to the dogs and power creep has been intense from what I hear. But what got me to set it aside is their outright abandonment of the color pie. It kept each color on theme, and just throwing that out the window removed (to me) all the flavor. Suddenly the best color to get things from the graveyard is green instead of black, etc.

[@Galaxies110]

Magic the gathering is how I got into D&D, love the game.

[@apersonwhomayormaynotexist9868]

My friends got really into MTG and so I tried it, then I played D&D because they started playing it, and now I play it and they stopped and I have a new group

[@ajparker7575]

Alan sound just like lil' Timmy. "I'm a simple man, I just want to summon, and I want to hit."

[@wallyg.robertson5936]

This is the video MTG needs. Not enough people remember what it was like to be at the lower/earlier stages of casual play. Edit: there are a few inconsistencies but that's the whole point I'm trying to make. You are causal players, not dedicated MTG creators.

[@the11382]

MTG is balanced for pros only. And everyone is acting like when a card needs to be banned, noobs can unlock the 100% potential of a card, which is not true. A lot of cards are fine in lower ranks. Take Cauldron Familiar, a new player would place it, sacrifice it the next turn and then sacrifice the food to get him back. A new player can only use this card once per turn. This is maybe a bit weak. Mid players can squeeze maybe 3 or 4 more life losses per turn out of it.

[@skranbets69]

Oh you picked a great time to play magic again. The new sets are all really fun and while the competitive scene is a bit rough rn, it's a super fun time for non competitive players who just wanna play for fun. Also probably the best way to describe the commander format for new players. Its unfortunate that your first experience wasnt as great, and MAN shuffling 100 cards sucks, but the mystery and booster packs feelings are spot on

[@jonaderjona5805]

I don't know... Strixhaven seems like a terrible set to introduce a new player with, given its complicated designs and general over-the-top-ness. If you've had prior experience with tcg's sure but otherwise it's gonna be problematic.

[@cloaking111]

I'm a little overwhelmed by the fact that they release so many products these days.

[@skranbets69]

@@jonaderjona5805 I would have to disagree. I think the fact that the prerelease are fixing you to go to a certain college and that there are o my 2 main mecanic: learn and magecraft, both being fairly intuitive, makes it a great set to jump in

[@jonaderjona5805]

@@skranbets69 I guess you're kinda right... though magic's colour system has always done a good job of pushing players into certain directions. However: Give a new player any of the MDF Deans or some of the bigger Izzet spells and they're sure to make a distressed face. Also, and this is subjective, Strixhaven is filled with more cards that you would have to build entire decks around as they're strong outliers from the set mechanics.

[@Dreamprism]

Played Magic as a kid. And now 5 minutes into your video I paused it to look up a few things and now it's 6 hours later that I've finally finished all of those tangents and got back to this video..

[@seriouslightning453]

As a magic addict, I’m just gonna say, commander is the best format, fight me

[@Eric_The_Cleric]

Sure, which deck would you like me to use? If you bring your guy I'll bring my guy and it will be a full on brawl!

[@chanarinadavidovici2146]

modern is best. lets rumble.

[@varmituofm]

My play group used to play our own made up format (we called it General) that was kinda similar to two headed giant. each team had 3 players, each with a 60+ card deck (with unified rules, so each TEAM could only have 4 copies of a card). Rules were essentially the same as two-headed giant, with a few differences. First, each team designated one player as the general. He'd sit in the middle of his team. Sorceries, instants, activated and triggered abilities worked as normal, but combat was a little weird, there were two flanks. Each non-general could only attack the person directly across from them (in their flank), and only could block attacks aimed at them. The general's creatures could join attacks or blocks on either flank. When a non general is knocked out, the general becomes vulnerable from that flank. The game is over when one general is defeated.

[@skillganon606]

Just call me your Archenemey, maybe you're bold enough to be a Vanguard.

[@skillganon606]

@@varmituofm the group I used to play with called it emperor but it's was basically the same.

[@199022009]

Very much in time for Strixhaven's release in Arena I see.

[@beckhamjenkins4798]

LOVE YOU COURTNEY. I love counter spells so much!!!

[@skaespearesboys5999]

This man just went past the strongest deck. Atogatog Chair Tribal

[@omicdog]

Worst deck if you have no atogs.

[@BouncingTribbles]

@@omicdog there are tons of atogs now though. Like, dozens

[@StAjoraGames]

*looks at their Sliver deck with 4 queens, a legion, an overlord, and 2 hivelords.

[@thrash208]

4 queens is worth $1000 now

[@StAjoraGames]

@@thrash208 Lol I know. This was in response to his reaction to that land that was worth the same who's name I can totally remember the name of right now. FUN FACT :: I picked all 4 of them up for ~$20 each. listing said "moderately played" and I needed them so I said WTH, why not. They (to me) are in near mint condition. Very little visible wear. No bending, no scratches, slight wear on some of the corners but nothing bad enough to make them worth < half the average price (which was ~45-50 USD at the time).

[@thrash208]

@@StAjoraGames my friend hasn't played in over a sexy and we casually talked about it. He said he had a sliver deck with 4 foil queens. He nearly shat his pants when I told him how much his deck is worth

[@StAjoraGames]

@@thrash208 By nearly do you mean a lost gamble or full on post drunken night Taco Bell feast mattress ruiner?

[@thrash208]

@@StAjoraGames taco bell it was a foiled out deck

[@TehPhuzzy]

Thanks for this prospective. It really helps to reframe how I feel about MtG. Been playing of-and-on for 20+years and it's great to hear who other people can enjoy the game

[@39kelevra]

Man! That twitch clip at the end was brutal.

[@flamesword08]

To be fair, Leveler is only really viable in a Gift Deck build. The look on their face when it comes into play is amazing.

[@beatboxingblueberry5515]

The card Fractured Identity played right after Leveler resolves is a funny way to win...assuming your opponent's don't have instant speed spells they can cast before their draw on their turn.

[@saboten9621]

Lazav the multifarious works well with leveler, just have it in your graveyard and then you can turn lazav into a 10/10 for 5 mana of any colour. Because it becomes a copy it doesn’t ETB so you don’t get rid of your library

[@hopposai787]

i run leveler in my azami deck as a win con.